2022 Paul G. Complin Scholarship Recipients

Nasim Yavari

Nasim Yavari, who has an industrial process engineering background has recently been working within the ongen group (ongen.ca) at Laurentian University. Her Master's research thesis is in the field of biological fixation (mitigation) of industrial fermentation off-gas CO2 using microalgae with unique properties that have been bioprospected from water bodies on mine sites in the region of Sudbury, Ontario. These microalgae exhibit many properties that make them ideal for exposure to off-gas, as well generating a wide-range of biocompounds of commercial interest. The environmental impact of fermented beverage production has drawn attention as a result of the noticeable expansion of ethanol-based industries. Nasim became enthusiastic about developing low-cost, sustainable and environmentally-friendly technology for fermentation process CO2 fixation. As the CO2 produced is a clean carbon source, she is also working with other members of the research team on microlagal synthesis of various valuable biomolecules, such as lipids, and proteins, which can be used as biofuels, sources of nutrition, and/or health beneficial products. 

2021 Paul G. Complin Scholarship Recipients

Rebecca Mesburis
2021 Scholarship Recipient

Rebecca Mesburis is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto. Her belief that science should not remain abstract from real-world problems has motivated her interest in the application of chemistry to persistent environmental challenges. Rebecca has completed research on road dust, microplastics, and persistent organic pollutants including the consideration of environmental and human health implications. Rebecca looks forward to further pursuing academic research as she applies to PhD programs in atmospheric chemistry next fall.

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Alcandor Lui
2021 Scholarship Recipient

Alcandor is a Master of Environmental Science candidate at the University of Toronto. He completed his Bachelor of Science at Western University with an Honours Specialization in Environmental Science. His research project in undergrad focused on whether the Government of Canada was doing enough to help reverse the oil sand’s ecological and environmental impacts of the nearby First Nation, the Mikisew Cree First Nation. He has developed a knowledge in remediation, environmental and risk assessment, and interactions with the biological ecosystem throughout his undergrad and postgraduate career. In his free time, Alcandor likes to go on hikes, mountain bike, camp, photograph landscapes, and enjoy the outdoors.

It is Alcandor’s goal to use his education with environmental science and his passion for photography and videography to help share and tell stories about the environment. His hope is to be able to help educate people across the world about pressing environmental issues and how one can help contribute to help the world become a better place for everyone.

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Hooman Chamani
2021 Scholarship Recipient

Hooman joined the research group of Prof. Christopher Lan and Prof. Takeshi Matsuura at University of Ottawa (in Fall 2017), where their focus was on desalination of seawater and brine. This research group provided him with a desirable environment for research, helping him tackle the main challenge of the membrane distillation process, i.e. pore wetting. He graduated from University of Ottawa with Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in November 2021.

Hooman previously received his M.A.Sc. and B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering-Environmental Engineering from Sharif University of Technology and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, respectively (First ranked student based on CGPA during both M.A.Sc. and B.A.Sc. programs).

In January 2022, he joined University of Toronto (under the supervision of Prof. Werber and Prof. Hattrick-Simpers) as a Postdoctoral Researcher with the aim of employing data science toward accelerating the characterization and discovery of membranes.

During the past four years, he has won several awards and scholarships (more than $370,000.00), including Mitacs Globalink Research Award, International Experience Scholarship, Ontario Trillium Scholarship, Richard Stessel Memorial Scholarship, Acceleration Consortium Postdoctoral Fellowship, etc.

2020 Paul G. Complin Scholarship Recipients

AWMA Ontario Section presents the three winners of the 2019/2020 Paul G. Complin memorial scholarship. Unfortunately due to COVID, an in-person awards presentation to the winners was not possible. Below are brief bios about the recipients in no particular order.

Luckrezia Awuor, ryerson university

Luckrezia is a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Applied Science and Management at Ryerson University. She is an environmental health professional, a public health inspector, and a researcher dedicated to protecting and promoting healthy environments by targeting the geographical, social, and economic disparities that hinder people in achieving good health. Under the climate change research portfolio, her research integrates environmental science, public health science and practice, and healthy public policy to address opportunities and gaps for public health inclusion and participation in climate change policy processes, decisions, and discourse. Her research also addresses recognized gaps in air quality, food and water quality, and vector-borne and zoonotic diseases resulting from climate change. Through her research, Luckrezia has meaningfully engaged policymakers and program managers across Canada’s 10 provinces, 3 territories and collaborated with more than 10 ministries, 35 public health units and 12 NGOs in Ontario to address gaps in climate change research and develop a vision for including public health in the climate change deliberative processes and participative structures while also advocating for the role of public health in the climate change discourse.

Luckrezia previously completed B.A.Sc. in Occupational and Public Health (Honors) from Ryerson University and was promoted from M.A.Sc. in Environmental Applied Science and Management into a Ph.D. in the same program in 2016.

Adewale Aromolaran, University of Ottawa

Adewale Aromolaran is a current PhD Candidate in Environmental Engineering at the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Dr. Majid Sartaj. Adewale has a strong interest in sustainable waste management, bioenergy generation and environmental modelling. He is currently investigating alternative pathways to mitigate process inhibitions and strategies to enhance biogas production from anaerobic systems, specifically bioreactor landfills and anaerobic digesters during the treatment of organic wastes.  After completing a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Chemistry at the Federal University of Technology, Akure Nigeria, Adewale moved to Leeds, United Kingdom where he obtained his master’s degree in Environmental Engineering & Project Management at the University of Leeds. 

Charles Cadieux, University of Ottawa

Charles has recently graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science. During his final year, he did an honours research project in collaboration with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization that focused on developing a method to measure solute transport in low permeability rocks using X-ray radiography. The results of this research, which were presented at the Goldschmidt 2020 geochemistry conference, could provide a way to collect valuable information on potential host rock formations for a deep geological repository that would store Canada’s nuclear fuel wastes. Charles is now pursuing graduate studies at the University of Ottawa under Dr. Tom Al’s supervision and will continue working on molecular diffusion and reactive transport properties of solutes in crystalline rocks.

2019 Paul G. Complin Scholarship Recipients

Allison Barrett of GHD with the 2019 Paul G. Complin Scholarship Recipients

Amanda Lim (University of Waterloo), Anum Khan (Ryerson University), and Reeda Mahmood (Ryerson University)

AWMA Ontario Section presents the three winners of the 2018/2019 Paul G. Complin memorial scholarship: Amanda Lim (University of Waterloo) who is studying the feasibility of vermicomposting biosolids at the municipal level, Anum Khan (Ryerson University) who is studying the "flushability" of common household cleaning products, and Reeda Mahmood (Ryerson University) who is looking at the use of photosensitive dyes in the next generation of solar panels.

Six finalists gave brief presentations on their current research and interests to a group of AWMA members and their guests, at a dinner hosted at the MaRS building. Thanks to everyone who submitted an application this year and congratulations to all six finalists who represented a wide range of environmental and sustainability studies. We encourage all eligible students to watch our website this fall for the 2019/2020 scholarship announcement, or subscribe to our mailing list.

Get to know our 2018 Scholarship Recipients

The winners of the 2017/2018 Paul G. Complin Memorial Scholarships are:

Chris Hey – Carleton University (M.Sc. candidate in Environmental Engineering)

Chris is a former mining engineer from Sudbury transitioning to a career in mine reclamation and sustainability. Chris’s research is focused on the potential use of biosolids in tailing soil covers, simultaneously addressing the issues of effective and affordable soil covers for mine wastes and paving the way for reduced biosolids disposal costs.  Chris intends to finish his Master's at Carleton University in 2018 and to apply his research in mine closure and sustainability to projects world-wide. Chris resides in Ottawa where he likes to cross country ski, mountain bike, fly-fish, and enjoy the outdoors.

Tamar Richards-Thomas – Trent University (Ph.D. candidate in Environmental and Life Sciences)

Tamar is a doctoral candidate in the Environmental & Life Sciences program at Trent University. She is studying the settling rate and micro-scale properties of dust particles, investigating the impact of a water droplet on loose dust surfaces and simulating dust re-suspension through wind tunnel experiments and numerical modeling. The findings from her studies will provide new insights into dust emission, transport and deposition processes specific to cold and humid environments such as Iceland. She graduated from her M.Sc. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Alberta in May 2014 and B.Sc. (honors) in Physics from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica in November 2011.

Dean Kennedy – University of Ottawa (Ph.D. candidate in Chemical and Biological Engineering)

Dean is pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Ottawa. He is currently investigating the use of adsorption technology for bulk industrial gas separation and purification. His primary focus is on the use of modified zeolites for improved recovery of fugitive 'waste' methane emissions from biogas and natural gas sources. The effectiveness of these materials will be analysed using adsorption and membrane based applications in terms of industrial and economic feasibility in order to both mitigate and recover this resource. Dean graduated from his B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ottawa in 2015, he continued unto a fast-track Ph.D. program in 2016 working with the ENERGY-S.M.A.R.T. group under the supervision of Dr. F. Handan Tezel at the University of Ottawa. Throughout his studies, Dean has had the opportunity to collaborate on several industrially relevant projects and hopes to continue with these efforts in the future.

2018 Scholarship Recipients and Finalists

Announcing the 2018
Paul G. Complin Scholarship Recipients

• Chris Hey – Carleton Universtity  
• Dean Alexander Kennedy – Ottawa University
• Tamar Richards-Thomas – Trent University

L-R: CHRIS HEY, DEAN KENNEDY, TAMAR RICHARDS-THOMAS WITH BETTY-ANN COMPLIN

Announcing the 2018
Paul G. Complin Memorial Scholarship Finalists

• Chris Hey – Carleton Universtity 
• Christopher Panaritis – Ottawa University
• Dean Alexander Kennedy – Ottawa University
• Servatius Bismandidio Ardinugroho – Ottawa University
• Tamar Richards-Thomas – Trent University
• Ye Zhao – Ottawa University

L-R: CHRIS HEY, CHRISTOPHER PANARITIS, DEAN KENNEDY, SERVATIUS ARDINUGROHO, TAMAR RICHARDS-THOMAS, YE ZHAO WITH BETTY-ANN COMPLIN

2012-2017 Scholarship Recipients

Click HERE to see the 2012 through 2017 Scholarship Recipients.